March 14 is Mother Tongue Day in Estonia. It is celebrated on this day to mark the birthday of poet Kristjan Jaak Peterson who was one of the first writers to write in the Estonian language. Peterson gathered his Estonian poems into two small books but never saw them published during his lifetime. In 1822 Kristjan Jaak Peterson died from tuberculosis at the tender age of 21.
Cannot the tongue of this land,
In the wind of incantation,
Rising up to the heavens,
Seek eternity?
- Kristian Jaak Peterson
Statue of Kristian Jaak Peterson on Toome Hill, Tartu.
